Street and station indicator.



H. U. SHIPMAN. STREET AND STATION INDICATOR. APPLICATION FILED JULY19,1911.

Patented July 16, 1912.

I I z 1 r r 1 1 I 1 1 I Ir r COLUMBIA I'LANOGRAPH cu.. WASHINGTON. I) c.

HAROLD CLIFFORD SHIIEMAN, 10F COBALT, ONTARIO, CANADA.

STREET AND STATION TNDIGATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 19 12.

Application filed July 19, 1911. Serial No. 639,439.

To all whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, HAROLD Cnirronn SI-IIIMAN, of the town of Cobalt,Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new anduseful Improve ments in Street and Station Indicators, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This inventlon relates to lmprovements in street and station indicatorsof the type adapted to indicate the station or stopping places of anelectric railway or other car or moving vehicle and the objects of theinvention are to provide a simple and effective form of device for thispurpose which will be exceedingly compact and may be readily operatedand adjusted.

Other objects are to enable the belt on which are printed or mounted thenames of the station, to be mounted in very small space and also toenable slack in such belts, to be readily taken up.

Another object is to provide an instrumentality of the class specified,which from an operative standpoint will in usage possess a high degreeof efficiency and effectiveness and which, structurally considered willbe of the greatest possible simplicity, being composed of but a fewparts, all adapted for being made at a minimum of cost and individuallyso formed as to be capable of being readily assembled in a neat andcompact arrangement for accomplishing the purpose intended.

Other-objects and advantages will be in part obvious and in part pointedout hereinafter, and with these and other ends in view, this inventionaccordingly consists in the features of construction, combination ofparts and arrangement of elements hereinafter more explicitly set forthas an exemplification of the underlying principles in volved in theinvention.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood and may becomprehensible to others skilled in the art, drawings illus trating aconvenient means of'carrying out the same are pointed out as a part ofthis specificatlon, and whlle the controlling prm-l ciples of theinvention may be otherwise applied by modifications falling within thescope of the claims, the hereinafter disclosed embodiment is that whichwill ordinarily be preferably employed in practice and is regarded asrepresenting substantial improvements over the many obvious or impliedvariations of the same. .In such drawings it is to be noted thatlikenumerals refer to corresponding parts throughout all the figures ofthe drawings.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 *is anz' elevation partially .insection of an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a cross -sec tionon the line 2-2 Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of the operatingmechanism. Fig. 4 is a section through one of the pulleys on which the'belt is mounted. Fig. '5 is a perspective view of the belt tighteningmeans. Fig. 6 is an elevation of an alternative form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings A is a casing constructed of suitable materialsuch as sheet metal or wood and of such size and shape as to properlycontain and support the working parts.

B represents an indicating belt on which are printed or mounted thenames of the streets or stations at which the car will in its ordinarycourse stop; each of said names occupies substantially the same spaceand one of said names is adapted to be displayed through a window 10provided in the side of the casing. The indicating belt is support edfrom a plurality of shafts C mounted within the casing and suitablyjournaled therein; as illustrated four shafts are provided and theyextend vertically in the cars ing. Eachshaft carries one or more centerpulleys 11 and end pulleys 1-2 and 13. The center pulley 11 is formed ateach end with beveled flanges 14 and 15 adapted to center the belt onthe pulley while the pulleys 12 and 13 have beveled flanges 16 on theirinner end only adapted to retain the belt in outermost position. Thebelt 13 is wound about the pulleys in the manner indicated the portionin front of the window extending substantially horizontally. To keep thebelts from contacting at the rear side, a pulley 40 may be provided onthe case adapted to engage and hold the outermost turn of the belt. Thepulleys may be conveniently attached to their respective shafts by meansof transversely extending bolts 17 having their heads and thenutscountersunk whereby they will not project outwardly to catch thesurface of the belt.

Actuation of the belt in the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 iseffected through the medium of a reciprocable dog D which extendsthrough the casing and has a hook shaped end 17 adapted to engage theside teeth 17" of a ratchet wheel 18 mounted on one of the shafts C,said. dog also having a projection 17 to engage the teeth 17 on top ofratchet. The dog itself is connected to one arm of a belt crank lever19, the

opposite arm being connected to a cord 20 or the like by which it may beoperated. This cord conveniently extends to a position in the car bywhich it may be operated by either the motorman or conductor. The bellcrank lever 19 may be conveniently supported from a bracket 21 on theside of the casing. To return the dog to original position a lever 22 isprovided which is centrally pivoted to a bracket 23 and has one endpivotally connected to the dog D while the other end is connected to atension spring 24, which spring has the opposite end connected to theside of the casing and is adapted to return the dog to normal positionwhen moved therefrom. In order to take up any slack of the beltsimultaneously at opposite ends thereof the bearing blocks 25 of one ofthe shafts are made movable as illustrated. These bearing blocks areformed with tongues 26 which fit into suitable grooves 27 provided in aguideway 28 in which the block 25 is mounted. The block at the top ofthe shaft is provided with a screw threaded adjusting shaft 29 whichextends through the side of the casing and may be provided with a milledhead 30 by which it may be turned. It is retained in adjusted positionthrough the medium of a pivoted dog 31 adapted to engage a ratchet wheel32 on the shaft 29. The shaft 29 also carries a beveled gear 33 whichmeshes with a like gear 34 provided on a vertically extending shaft 35which is supported from brackets 36. The opposite end of this shaftcarries a beveled gear 37 which meshes with a beveled gear 38 mounted ona transversely extending shaft 39' which is screw threaded and engagedwith a perforation provided in the lower block 25. It will beseen thatwhen the shaft 29 is turned it will also turn the shaft 30 and thus theshaft C will be moved in a direction at right angles to itself. In usingthe device the casing is mounted in an appropriate position in a carfrom which it can be seen. by the passengers therein. The conductor ormotorman of the car will then actuate the indicating belt to correspondwith the movement of the car.

In the alternative form shown in Fig. 6 the belt is adapted to beactuated from an electric motor E connected to one of the shaftslC andincluded in an electric circuit 40 which circuit includes a source ofpower 41 such as a storage battery which may be charged from the sourcewhich drives the car and a switch 42 located in .the car ad jacent tothe position of the motorman. The motor should be of low speed, and ifdesired a switch might be provided both at the front and at the back ofthe car.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of my invention, within thescope of the claims, constructed without departing from the spirit orscope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in theaccompanying specifl cation and drawings shall be interpreted asillustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is z 1. In a street and station indicatorand in combination a plurality of shafts each shaft carrying a centralpulley and end pulleys, said central pulley having beveled flanges onopposite ends adapted to center the belt and said end pulleys havingbeveled flanges on the inner'ends only adapted to retain the belt inoutermost position, an indicating belt mounted on said pulleys in such away as to display a horizontally extending frontao-rtion, a casingsupporting the shafts and having a window through which a portion of theindicating belt may be observed and means for actuating one of theshafts.

2. In a street and station indicator and in combination, a plurality ofshafts, each shaft carrying a central pulley and end pulleys, saidcentral pulley having beveled flanges on opposite ends and said endpulley having beveled flanges on the inner ends only and an indicatingbelt mounted on said pulleys, said belt being so threaded on the pulleysas to provide three horizontal strips at the front side of the casing,the

belt being threaded diagonally from the lowest pulley on one side to theuppermost pulley on the other side at the rear, a casing supporting theshafts and having a window through which a portion of the indicatingbelt may be observed and means for actuating one of the shafts.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twowitnesses.

HAROLD CLIFFORD SHIPMAN.

Witnesses GEO. MrroHELL, H. P. 'MCGINNES.

Copies ofthis patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washingtoml). 0.! I

